Does One Kiss Change Everything?
by Scribe
Summary: Based on the upcoming Season Six Episode 'Hydro'. After kissing Lois while impersonating the Green Arrow, Clark Kent finds himself at a crossroads with his relationship with Lois Lane.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Does One Kiss Change Everything

Author: Scribe

Rating: G - PG

Disclaimer: I'm just playing in WB's Sandbox.

Summary: SPOILER ALERT - A short story based on the upcoming Season Six Episode 'Hydro'. After kissing Lois while impersonating the Green Arrow, Clark Kent finds himself at a crossroads with his relationship with the intrepid Miss Lane.

Okay this was bad.

Bad, Kent? Bad…this is your definition of bad?

"_Clark," Lois looked at him, growing impatient by the silence. "Did you hear what I said?"_

Lois Lane. He had kissed Lois Lane. He had kissed Lois Lane, Ollie's girl, Ollie who was his friend. He had kissed her to help Ollie convince the intrepid reporter that Green Arrow and Oliver Queen were not the same and all he could think about now, was how he could get to do it again. He was going to hell. The _special hell_ reserved for morons who couldn't tell their girlfriends the truth about themselves and took to kissing other guy's girlfriends whilst wearing a mask.

"SMALLVILLE!"

Clark blinked and looked at Lois as she stared at him in his loft hideaway in the Barn. "Uh…sorry Lois," he focused on her again, still trying to shake off the disorientation he felt from earlier this evening.

It had been a simple enough request. Just wear Ollie's Green Arrow costume while he was with Lois and that would throw off any suspicions she had that the millionaire CEO of Queen industries wasn't a vigilante Robin Hood, simple right? Wrong. How could he have known that Lois was going to plant one on him and worst yet; that it would be good?

Good Kent? Come on, it was more than good, it was _amazing_. Talk about the kiss that could knock your socks off, this sure as hell qualified.

If it wasn't for the fact that he was dressed up like the Green Arrow, that revealing himself would have meant a hell of a lot of explaining and was just plain suicide, Clark would have made one kiss become two and possibly an entire make out session. God knows it had been long enough since he had that kind of release since Lana's emasculating act of moving in with Lex Luthor.

"Jesus Christ on a crutch!" Lois stormed over and whacked him on the shoulder. "Are you even listening to me?"

Clark realized he had drifted off again. "Ow…WHAT?"

Lois expression fell with sarcasm, "I come here and tell you that I just had the most incredible kiss with the Green Arrow Bandit and all you can do is stare at me like you're from outer space?"

Clark choked on his spit and stared. "Wh..what?"

Lois threw her hands up in the air. "I can't talk to you," she snorted. "I'm only here because Chloe is out with Jimmy at Make Out Point with her cell off. Following up on that park ranger story my ass…"

Clark watched her rant and rave. God she was so much work. Loud, aggressive, half the time he didn't know if he want to strangle her or drop kick her to the other side of the planet. Being around Lois was like taking a ride in a barrel down Niagara Falls. Since their meeting she had driven him crazy. No woman got under her skin as much as she did and often so easily. It was like she knew where every button to push was in him. She was obnoxious, rude, stubborn, determined, fearless and ….incredible.

Clark blinked again, realizing where his train of thought had taken it and he shook his head to dispel the notion. _You_ _are so not going there Kent…really_. She's Ollie's girl and she's Lois. Remember? Lois, uses all the hot water, calls the dog Clarkie, Lane?

"Alright, alright I'm sorry," Clark spoke up just to keep her quiet. "I just had things on my mind…" he said folding his arms and looking at her from his usual perch near the window of the barn. "So you kissed this Green Arrow guy and it was okay."

"Okay?" Lois rolled her eyes. "You didn't hear a thing I said did you? Honestly Smallville. I didn't say it was okay. I said it was AMAZING. I mean talk about right cross to the jaw, my toes are still tingling! How am I gonna kiss Ollie without wanting that action again?"

"Really?" Clark started to grin, his ego taking a well deserve boost after his luck with women of late. "That good, huh" He was smirking like a teenager.

"Don't be juvenile," she glowered "I'm in trouble here."

"What trouble?" Clark retorted. "You're still going out with Ollie, you still like Ollie right? Is one kiss going to change everything?"

Lois met his eyes at that moment and for a moment her expression was unfathomable. "No," she pretended to laugh but it seemed half hearted somehow. "Of course not. I mean I'm not one of those girls that put everything into that first kiss? I'm just saying that…I don't know what I'm saying. Look Clark if you can't make any sense, I'm not talking to you."

His head was starting to hurt.

"I don't know what you want me to say Lois?" Clark retorted but he was grinning on the inside because right now, she did look like one of those girls that put _everything_ into that first kiss. "Go trolling the streets to find him so you can get a repeater?"

"Don't be a jerk Clark," she made a face at him.

"I'm not being a jerk," he defended himself though somewhat half-heartedly. He was giving her a hard time and he knew it. How often did he get the upper hand with Lois? "I'm just saying that if you clearly aren't one of those girls affected by the first kiss and you still care about Ollie, then what's the problem? So he's not as good a kisser as the Green Arrow."

"Green Arrow Bandit." She pointed out.

"Give it up Lois, its Green Arrow." He retorted and continued. "So he's not as good a kisser, does it make any difference? I mean come on; does one kiss change everything you feel about Ollie?"

Lois frowned and looked at him through dark lashes. "No," she pouted like a little girl, not entirely convinced. "Not much…it's just that…"

"What?" He was a bastard. He shouldn't be listening to this. Worse yet, he shouldn't be trying to pump her for more information. Clark winced. Kent, I don't believe you just went there. "I mean what is it?" He asked clearing his throat.

"It just felt…" Lois struggled to say it, not just to Clark but because saying it would make it more real somehow and harder to let go. "It just felt so _right_."

Clark fell silent.

Oh hell, Clark Kent thought with an inward sigh of defeat, this was how it was going to be wasn't it, from now on?

Lois Lane just found a whole new way to drive him crazy.

And the worst part was, Clark knew he was just going to let her.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO: CROSSING THE LINE

"I don't know if it's going to work out with Oliver," Lois Lane declared in Clark Kent's barn a few weeks after her confrontation with the Green Arrow _Bandit_, where she had tried to expose his identity as Oliver Queen by kissing him. God, was that as dumb as it sounded? Lois asked herself as she sulked on the sofa, watching Smallville play with his toys instead of paying attention to her on this _so_ important subject.

Ever since she had confessed her feelings on that kiss, Lois had been here, using him as a sound board. For some reason, speaking to a third party who wouldn't care less one way or another who she dated was easier than talking to Chloe, who might be motivated by familial affection to convince her to stay with the millionaire boyfriend who so far had been really quite perfect.

Clark who was in the process of cleaning the lenses on his telescope, paused in midswipe across a lens and looked up at her, wishing she had said anything BUT THAT. The last few weeks had been a special kind of torture with Lois coming up here to tell him how the kiss had affected her, how she needed to find the Green Arrow, how it just wasn't the same with Ollie. The worst of it was, she actually thought he was impartial on the whole matter when in truth he was anything but.

The kiss haunted him.

It haunted him for all the possibilities it seemed to open up. For the first time in ages, the woman on his mind was not Lana Lang but this irascible pain in the ass who always managed to do what no one else could. Piss him off royally. Now here she was, telling him things he frankly _did not_ want to hear. Sure his ego had got a fresh infusion of confidence knowing how much he had rattled her cage and truth be known, the cage rattling had gone both ways. However when the dust had settled, Clark really had time to think about the implications of wanting Lois and it was actually quite daunting.

She really was a lot of work and then there was of course, the little matter of the white elephant in the room which was his Kryptonian heritage. How would Lois handle that because sure as hell Clark had been properly singed by his experiences with Lana and keeping secrets to go through all that again.

Lois couldn't even shut up was she was watching a movie.

In all this, he had consoled himself with the fact that she as still going out with Ollie and while she was going out with Ollie, it was a moot point. Selfish as it might seem, Clark had reasons of his own for wanting Lois to remain with Oliver Queen. Sure it was the most incredible kiss he had ever had in his life and that kissing Lana had paled in comparison to that one moment with Lois. However, knowing that drove home the reality just how much under his skin and into his heart she could get and his gut clenched at the possibility at just how much worse than Lana she could hurt him.

"I thought things were going great with you and Ollie," Clark managed to say after a moment.

"Great is relative," Lois looked at him as if she were talking to a child. It was just her luck that Farm Boy was the only one she could feel comfortable about confessing this crap too. "Ollie's great, he really is but there's just something missing…"

"Like what?" He asked as he stopped working on the telescope and eyed her on his sofa.

_Don't say it, don't say it_, he pleaded inwardly. Clark Kent didn't want to hear what was missing because he damn well knew what it was.

Lois fidgeted and was unable to meet his gaze as she said it because saying it would make her just like all those other girls, the ones that did put so much stock in the first kiss and Lois Lane had prided herself in never being _one of those_. However, this was Smallville so no real harm would be done by admitting it and while he might get a little mileage at her expense, right now she just needed to talk about it to make a decision.

"The kiss," she met his blue-green eyes with almost guilty blush across her cheeks.

_Aw hell_, Clark swore inside.

"You said a kiss _didn't matter_ Lois," Clark pointed out, once again swept away by that sinful tide of ego. The smirk stole across his lips almost unconsciously.

"Get that smile off your face," she glowered and promptly chucked a cushion at him.

Clark laughed, forgetting the turmoil inside him for the moment and enjoying the game of one- upmanship they had started playing from the instant they met. "Sorry, can't help it. So what next? Start kissing every guy in Metropolis until you find Mr. Right?"

"Oh you are just so loving this aren't you?" She glared at him through narrowed eyes when she rose up from the sofa and stormed over to him.

"Absolutely not," he said grinning.

"I have to break up with him, smart guy." Lois declared. "I can't continue to lead him on when I don't feel the same way."

Clark's grin faded because now he felt like a real bastard because his feelings aside, Lois was Ollie's girl and he was a friend. Guys didn't steal other guy's girls when they were friends. Of course technically he wasn't actually stealing…

"Isn't that a little rash?" He managed to force out, ignoring the possibilities surfacing in his head.

"No Clark it's not rash," Lois looked at him critically. "Because when you don't feel for someone, you let them go. You don't let it linger for years and years, generating enough angst to be the recurring theme in some really bad teenage soap opera."

Clark's jaw clenched. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," she turned her back on him, a smile following her as she did. Lois knew how to play the game too. "Just saying…"

"Well I don't want to hear it if you're referring to Lana," he said coldly and suddenly, the kiss became the furthest thing in his mind and Clark decided there and then that she really was too much trouble. She didn't play fair and that just pissed him off.

"Hey did I say Lana?" Lois shot back turning around to face him again.

"You know damn well you did," he said pointedly, his blue eyes stormy.

"Well it's true," she retorted, realizing she had crossed the line but natural attrition wouldn't let her pull back but ride this train wreck wherever it led. "I mean you two danced around each other for years, unable to make your minds up, making yourself miserable and still continue to I might add, all because you cling to the belief that you _have_ to make it work. Has it ever occurred to you Smallville that if it's that hard, maybe it's not meant to?"

"Hey you don't know anything about me and Lana," Clark bit back harder then he intended because her words struck so close to home, they practically drew blood. "So don't judge me when the whole reason for this is because you're hot to get into some other guy's pants."

The minute Clark said it, he knew he had crossed the line too.

Lois' face showed her hurt but Lois being Lois, hid the pain quickly. She was her father's daughter after all. "Well you give as good as you get Smallville," she answered, her voice a little sedate after that return serve. Retreating and it was the first time, she was on the defensive, she realized, Lois grabbed her handbag at the edge of the sofa.

"I better get going, it' getting late." She turned her back to him.

"Lois…" Clark started to say, feeling terrible that he had lashed out with an accusation that crass. Especially when what she said had a kernel of truth to it, no matter how painful it was for him to admit.

"I got an early start," she started jabbering away, switching into survival mode. "You know how your mom can be when she's got a full day. Must be that farm schedule she keeps, I'll see you later."

It happened so quick that he didn't even know how to stop her and this was saying something for a guy who could make it to Metropolis in ten minutes on foot.

"Lois, come on," he stood up to follow but she was already making her way down the stair and Clark had a feeling that she wouldn't stop even if he asked her too.

Taking her advice for a change, Clark let her go.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE: HIGH MAINTENANCE

Clark knew he was going to feel bad after he chased Lois out of his loft that night but what he was unprepared for, was just _how_ bad he would feel.

Even though she appeared regularly at the Kent farm over the course of the next week, she made it a point not to drop by and see him like she had in the days following their kiss. Oh they came across each other of course, it was impossible not to when Lois was Martha's Chief of Staff, but instead of the friendly banter that had marked their relationship since they had wandered into each other's orbit, Lois attitude towards him was somewhat aloof.

She wasn't rude or insulting, just aloof.

And Clark hated it.

The Lois he knew, liked to give him crap and while Clark had always told himself, he could live without Lois' brand of sarcasm, the thing of it was; he kind of missed it. He liked listening to her ramble on about stuff, he liked listening to her on her soap box, screaming out in defiance at all the things that was wrong in the world or just plain pissed her off. Lois just didn't believe in taking it and Clark who spent most of his life, doing nothing but taking it in one shape or another, either because of his secret, his responsibilities to the people he loved or his Kryptonian heritage, admired her for that.

Martha noticed of course, the shift in their relationship and had actually asked Clark if anything was the matter. Fearful at how she might react to him telling her that he may or may not have accused Lois about being promiscuous, Clark feigned ignorance on the subject and then proceeded to feel even worse. Not only about Lois but also about having to lie to Martha.

Sometimes, Clark wondered how he ended up hoisting his own petard from the highest frigging yardarm without even trying.

He let this go on for a week until it threatened to stretch into two before Clark came to the conclusion it had to end. The memory of that kiss was still livid in his mind and yet he couldn't think of it, savor it or decide what to do about it until he dealt with the superimposed image of the hurt in her eyes when Lois walked out of his barn.

Clark was out of line that night and he knew it. Lois hadn't said anything that wasn't the truth and it was time he admitted it or at the very least, apologized. As far as Clark was concerned, she was still Ollie's girl and he wasn't apologizing to change that fact.

He was apologizing because she was his friend and he _missed_ her.

Lois Lane appeared at the Kent farm to drop rewrites of Martha's speech that morning before she made the drive to Metropolis for her job at the Inquisitor. The plan was to drop the pages off and get to the car before she ran into farm boy, whom she really didn't want to see this morning. Her mood was lousy, her conundrum about Ollie nowhere solved and to top it all off, she hadn't slept all that well lately.

So the last thing she needed was to deal with Mr. Judgmental as well.

Clark heard the car drive up the road and was grateful that Martha was out of the house visiting with one of the neighbors who had come down with a case of the flu. Martha Kent's chicken soup was a thing of legends in these parts and it was testament to her kindness that even as a State Senator, Martha felt compelled to visit Mrs. Langstrom with some.

Running through all the things he wanted to say before she actually got to the door, Clark spied Lois emerging from the vehicle and pretended to make coffee in the kitchen while he waited for her arrival. This took place a few minutes later when she stepped inside the house. Knocking was still one of those social niceties that hadn't caught on with Lois yet, Clark thought with a little smile as he heard her enter the house.

"Mrs. Kent?" she called out, not seeing him yet.

"She's out," Clark responded emerging from the kitchen with coffee mug in hand. "She went over to Mrs. Langstrom down the road with her chicken soup."

Lois looked at Clark for a fraction of a second before she averted her gaze and headed towards the nearby dining table. "Well just tell her I got the rewrites for her speech at the Luthercorp fund raiser tonight."

Like a mini twister, she moved fast across the floor with every intention of getting out before another exchange of conversation between them was required.

She didn't look at him once as she spoke, Clark noticed.

"Lois," he called out as she headed towards the door without saying anything else. "Lois, can we talk?"

"Nope," she said abruptly and shut the door on her way out.

Cursing under his breath, Clark set down the cup and knew that this time, he _was_ going to have to go after her. In a few easy strides he caught up with her in the middle of the front walk.

"Lois, please, hear me out." He implored.

"Nope I don't think so," she said in typical Lois indifference.

"Lois…!" Clark growled with exasperation. "I'm sorry, okay? I was out of line that night."

Lois paused and turned around to face him. Eyes narrowed, hands on her hips, in a stance Clark had come to recognize after two and half years with her as battle mode, Lois looked him in the eye and said, "oh you mean about implying that I was some kind of tramp?"

"I didn't say that…" Clark started to protest but knew better. He didn't say the words but the implication had been there. "I'm sorry." He said helplessly.

"You know what hurt Clark?" Lois said taking another step towards him. "You and I haven't had the best relationship and our finest moments seem to be how much we can piss each other off but I at least thought I rated a little more better than _that_ in your eyes."

_Aw hell_, Clark swore silently again.

"You do Lois," Clark insisted. "Look you said it once, Lana took no prisoners and you're right, she didn't. I couldn't be honest with her and now she's gone to Lex and everything you said, was right on the money. I messed up and it hurts having my face rubbed in it. I lashed out at you and it wasn't right or fair. I know what you've been going through since this whole thing with the Green Arrow, I know its not easy to shake off something that feels right."

_Tell me about it_, he snorted inwardly.

The Lois thing to do would be to take his head off and tell him that he deserved her harsh words but the past two weeks, Lois too had felt the void of his absence. She couldn't explain it but it was there and it was space neither Chloe or Ollie could fill. Sometimes, she didn't know what to do with Clark, where he fit into her life. Not lover or best friend, he was just…just Clark.

And she missed him.

She was going to turn around and keep walking, Clark decided because she had that look on her face again, the one he couldn't read, the one where she was about to surprise him with something ridiculous or worse yet, something totally unexpected.

She was so much work.

Thank God, he had the stamina.

However, Lois didn't walk away but took a step forward and closed the distance between them. Clark wasn't sure what she was going to do and for a brief second, just a brief second, he entertained the notion that she might kiss him. As always, his expectation was way off the mark from the reality.

She punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow…?" he grumbled looking at her with question. It didn't hurt but hey, appearances right?

"You hurt me," she stated with that infuriating pout on her full lips. "Don't do it again."

Looking down into those eyes, the ones that saw right through him at times, he nodded. "I'll try."

"Try Smallville?" She looked at him exasperated. "Try?"

"Yeah," he smiled, guessing that he was somewhat forgiven. She hadn't called him Smallville since this all began. That she was doing it now was a good sign. "_Try_. You're pretty obnoxious you know…"

"Me?" Lois exclaimed as she pulled away, a small smile on her lips. "I'm not the one whose in trouble here Smallville."

"So you keep saying," Clark grinned, his eyes dancing with hers as she smiled back. "Its not my fault you're a high maintenance woman. How does Ollie put up with you anyway?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she teased and turned back to the car. Climbing into it, Lois looked at him though the window. "What am I gonna do with you Smallville?"

As Clark looked at her, he honestly didn't know but he was okay to wait and find out.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR: FEELS LIKE HOME

_Lips against lips. A gentle exploration that soon moved into more passionate territory. The scent of him, the taste, she tried to commit it to memory, tried to remind herself that but a few short weeks ago, these kisses were all that she needed from him, that they were enough. Hands over hard flesh, feeling, caressing but lacking the fluidity of instinct. She prayed he didn't notice that she was forcing the illusion of pleasure when all she could feel was this… emptiness. _

Dinner had gone great with Ollie making reservations for them at an expensive restaurant which required use of her _good_ pantyhose. As always, Ollie was charming, funny and everything a rich, millionaire CEO should be and _shouldn't_. He was an anomaly she didn't understand and Lois supposed that was why she was still here, because to a degree he intrigued her.

Oliver Queen could have turned out like Lex Luthor. If anything, he had better excuse for it but Ollie had somehow managed to hold on to himself, to be aware that there was a world out there that wasn't so fortunate even if he could be a bit blasé about it.

Following dinner they had made their way back to his penthouse suite where for the first time, Lois didn't think about staying the night. As they fell into familiar patterns of seduction, Lois felt constricted and needing to escape. She knew what lay at the core of this but trying to explain that to Ollie was impossible. How could she tell him that the Green Arrow had sparked something in her that made his kisses pale in comparison?

Not only was it ridiculous it was also embarrassing since she had been shouting the loudest for the vigilante's head. There were times when Lois truly believed she was paying karma at a vastly accelerated level.

And now she was here, feeling him touch her, feeling his lips on her neck, her fingers clutching at his muscled back, sensing that he was ready to move to the next level and she…she just couldn't.

Oliver was no fool.

He had been sensing something for quite some time now but had not been able to put his finger on when exactly it was he had lost her. And he knew he had _lost_ her. Tonight, the sensuality of their earlier sessions was gone. He felt her hesitation and that was enough for him. No wasn't a word that had to be said for Ollie Queen to know when to stop, just the idea of it sufficed. He cared for Lois too much to force her into a situation she would undoubtedly go through out of sheer stubbornness.

Slightly hurt, he pulled away at last and sat up straight on the leather sofa, his eyes drinking in the crown of dark hair splayed against the fabric and how deliciously beautiful she looked with her smudged lipstick and rumpled dress.

"This isn't working for you is it?" He met her gaze with a sad smile.

Lois closed her eyes, unable to look at him upon hearing his question and supposed that was his answer.

"I'm sorry Ollie," she sat up after a moment and ran her fingers through her hair. "I don't know what it is," she fixed her gaze upon him, allowing a rare vulnerability to show itself. She owed him that.

"It just doesn't feel right." Her face showed her anguish, her despair because she wanted to love him, she truly did but everything inside Lois Lane told her that she wasn't for him.

"I guess maybe there is a little sugar and spice in there after all," Ollie said quietly, reaching for her chin and rubbing a thumb across it tenderly. "Its okay," he stood up and walked away from her. "I'll survive. I've always been the one giving these kinds of talks. I supposed it was just balancing the karma gods that it was my turn."

"Ollie…" Lois started to speak.

"Lois, don't," he said stopping her with a pleading look. "Let me get out of this with some dignity okay? I'll have the car take you home."

For once, Lois didn't argue with him.

Someone was in the house.

Clark Kent sat up in his bed and glanced at the clock. It was past midnight and he knew his mother was staying over night in Metropolis. Climbing out from under the covers, Clark grabbed a t-shirt as he scanned the floor boards to see who had intruded his home at this hour. To his surprise, Clark saw that it was Lois. Puzzled as well as concerned at what would bring her here at this hour, he left his room and descended the stairs to the living room downstairs.

Lois was lying on the sofa, almost in fetal position. Her heels lay on the rug and still dressed in the black cocktail dressed she had gone to dinner in, Lois wasn't asleep nor did she move when she heard his approach.

"Lois?" Clark asked immediately, something striking him about the way she looked. Fragile almost. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm sorry Smallville," she made no attempt to sit up even when he brought the lights on. "I just didn't feel like going to my place tonight and this," her hazel eyes swept across the room, "always felt like home.'

"You know you're welcome here," he said hastily and lowered himself into the arm chair across her, his concern mounting. What had happened to her? Clark was unaccustomed to seeing her like this, vulnerable. It alarmed him. "What's happened?"

"Nothing," she sighed, wiping her eyes of the tears she had shed not too long ago. "I just needed to be here for awhile." In truth, she had hoped Martha would be around and supposed it was a testament to her state of mind that she didn't remember that the Senator was away this evening. Martha had a way of making these things better, the way her mother used to when she was a little girl and sometimes, even Lois Lane needed that.

"Lois?" Clark looked at her, his eyes showing her that he knew it was more than that. "Talk to me, please?"

"Its not a big deal Smallville," she sat up. "I just broke up with Oliver."

Silence.

Clark didn't trust himself to speak. _So_ _much for not having to cross that bridge for awhile_, he told himself. Moving next to her, he reached over and put her arm across her shoulder, intending to pull her in for a hug because she did look like she needed one at present. It was meant to be perfectly innocent, more like a big brother comforting his sister after a bad breakup, just before he tore the guy a new one that is.

"I keep thinking I just hurt this great guy because of something I don't even understand," Lois complained, feeling fresh tears. "I mean Jeez Clark, why do I always have to screw it up by being so damn picky?"

"Lois…" Clark tried to be understanding and impartial but it was impossible and he knew it. Even now, he was thinking how well she fit next to him, how her head against his shoulder felt like the most natural thing in the world. He was resisting the urge to lean down and smell her hair. The girl was in a state and all he could think about what how he felt, to say nothing of the fact that other wounded party in this was his friend, Oliver.

He was going to the _special hell_ alright.

"Lois there are some things in this life where second best just isn't good enough," he found himself saying. Inevitably, he thought of Lana and his love for her. Or was it the idea of her him that he liked so much, rather than the girl herself? He had always been drawn to women who shared some common ground with him. Alicia because she was special like him, Raya because she was from Krypton. Did Lana fall into that category?

Lately Clark didn't know anymore.

"But that's just it Clark," she said holding onto him, not looking up as fresh tears came. "It wasn't second best before that kiss. I liked Ollie, I liked him a lot. How did things changed that fast?"

"I don't' know Lois," he answered, taking to brushing her hair with a thumb the way one would soothe an uneasy race horse. _Liar_, the inner voice inside him accused. "But you did the right thing."

"I did?" She asked.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You stepped away before you hurt him even worse by lying to him about feelings you don't have. Trust me Lois," Clark said looking down at her. "In the long run, this was better than letting him go on thinking you two had a chance."

Clark thought about Lana and wondered if it would have made any difference if he had heeded the same advice. It seemed a moot point but it was one of those persistent memories that returned on occasion to remind you just much you screwed up. Still, holding on to Lois now, Clark couldn't deny that in a way he was glad that it was finished with Lana.

At least they both knew where they stood.

He felt her cheek cant up and down, an indication that she was nodding in agreement. More than anything Clark wished his father was still her with them because right about now, Clark could have surely used the man's guidance.

Lois didn't say anything further, content to merely stay where she was, snuggled against his shoulder, taking the comfort he offered. After awhile, Clark heard the gentle tremor against his chest as she felt asleep. A small smile quirked his lips when he noted she was snoring a little.

Quietly, he picked her up and if but for one stirring, Lois remained asleep as Clark placed her under the covers of his bed, pulling the sheets over her shoulders as he watched watching her sleep for a moment.

So much work, he told himself not for the first time. However as he looked down on her right now, Clark knew it was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE: WE TAKE TURNS IN THE SHOWER!!!

There were moments when Clark Kent wondered if _everything_ in his life was meant to be a struggle.

It was bad enough that he came from Krypton, a dead world with more last survivors than he knew what to do with, a father who kept throwing him curve balls from a crystal fortress in the Alaskan tundra and an ex-girlfriend who was now pregnant to his former best friend. Now he had to contend with the fact that he might …Clark couldn't even say it without wincing…be falling for the most irritating female in creation.

As he stood in the shower, letting warm water try and convince him that today was going to be better than the last, Clark wondered whether or not if it would have been better if the space ship carrying little Kal-El had taken a left turn at Albuquerque. So far, Smallville had proven to be one heartache after another. No sooner than the thought had coalesced in his head, Clark knew he was being petulant. His mother and father were here and he could not have imagined his life without then, despite the heartache.

Still, Clark knew the source of his guilt and he had no idea how to rectify the situation. Technically, he had nothing to be guilty of. Lois had decided to break up with Ollie of her own volition. He had done nothing to encourage it, he had not taken advantage of the situation nor given her any hint that the kiss she shared with the Green Arrow was actually with him.

Nope, on paper, Clark Kent had been pretty much innocent.

However, if he was being judged by what was going on in his head, Clark had a feeling he'd facing the firing squad at sunup.

How could he face Oliver, who was his friend, who had no idea that the reason Lois had broken up with him was due to the kiss they had shared while Clark had been helping Oliver by impersonating the Green Arrow? The first time they had met, Oliver had inferred more going on between him and Lois although at the time, Clark had balked at the idea. Even Lana had made statements to this effect when she had first met Lois years ago.

Was there a memo that everyone but he and Lois didn't get?

When Lois had shown up last night, Clark hadn't known what to think. All he knew was the way was clear and yet, it wasn't. She still had no idea that he was the amazing kisser she kept going on about. An involuntary smirk crossed Clark lips as that thought flashed in his head. How did he tell her without blowing Oliver's cover and worst yet, his? Because knowing mad dog Lane, no explanation but the truth would satisfy the woman.

Jeez, it was like being in love with a bulldog.

And as that thought surface in his head, Clark found himself stopping short in the shower. _Steady there Smallville_, Clark imagined Lois' voice snort. W_ho said anything about love_?

"For crying out loud Smallville! How long you going to hog the shower?"

"Lois!" Clark exclaimed, soap slipping out of his startled hand to fall on the porcelain floor just as he made a grab for the shower curtain to peek through. His foot landed on the said bar and he went flying and not Kryptonian style either.

Cheap plastic hooks were no match for 6ft 3 farm boy as the shower curtain Clark had grabbed hold of to break his fall and the curtain rail it was attached to came crashing down in the tub. Lois Lane who had been in the process of squeezing toothpaste onto a brush she had left here sometime ago, clenched the tube in shock and sent a stream of white through the air.

"What on Earth?" Martha Kent demanded as she opened the door and gaped at the sight of her son in the tub, the demolished shower curtain and accompanying rail on top of him, Lois wearing Clark's shirt with toothpaste all over the floor.

"Mom!" Clark managed to clamber to his feet in the slippery tub only to find Lois smirking and Martha clearing her throat as she tried not to look. Blank at first, Clark suddenly realized that he wasn't dressed and grabbed the shower curtain for cover. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"No, not all," Lois was smirking, tilting her head slightly as she took in the view. "Actually it sort of looks like you've been working out since I last saw Clark Junior."

Clark's face turned red and he growled at her. "Next time you can sleep on the couch."

"Really?" Martha eyed her son, starting to see this whole situation as the usual farce that anything to do with Clark and Lois in a shower tended to be.

"No!" Clark realized what he said. "That's not what I mean."

"Its okay Smallville," Lois started to laugh as she decided to leave this scene. "You were _wonderful_. "

Clark could only glare.

"Stop smiling," Clark grumbled as they sat at the breakfast table a short time later. "How many times do I have to tell you that we take turns in the shower?"

"Hey, is it natural for men to have hour long showers?" Lois retorted over her cup of coffee.

"I was not in there for an hour," he stabbed at the piece of egg on his plate. "You were asleep when I left you."

"Yeah about that," Lois set down the cup and looked at him. "How did that happen? I could have sworn I was on your sofa."

Clark dropped his gaze from hers. "I put you in there last night." He replied. "You were a bit upset and I didn't want you to sleep on the sofa…"

Lois' expression softened. "You carried me to bed?"

Clark rolled his eyes. "Well I was going hit you over the head with my club and carry you back to the cave but I thought that might be a little extreme."

"Very funny," she made a face at him before her adding. "Thank you Smallville, for last night."

"What are friends for Lois?" he gave a little as well, reaching that rare place in their relationship when both withdrew to the 39th parallel and regarded each other as something remotely resembling friends. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she nodded, reminded now of what she had done to bring her to the Kent Farm weeping like a schoolgirl. "As okay as one who has broken up with a gorgeous billionaire over a kiss from arrow shooting, hooded leather freak with a taste for theatrics, can be." Lois frowned.

Clark tried not to chuckle since he was privy to the inside joke that she wasn't. "So what are you going to do? Try and find this guy?" Clark asked innocently.

"Yeah Clark," Lois snorted. "I'm going to hang around rooftops in the middle of the night, hoping he'll just drop by and plant one on me again. I don't think so. If this guy felt the same thing I did, _he'll_ find me."

"What if he doesn't?" Clark asked, unable to think of any opportunity where he could meet up with her as the Green Arrow without her requiring an explanation.

Lois' expression fell and that look came across her lovely face again, the one he couldn't read.

"I don't know." She said sipping her coffee, looking thoughtful as she considered the possibility. "I mean what would happen if he does show up? Do we date? Does he pick me up in the Arrow Car and meet the General for Sunday dinner? I can just picture it, the General will ask what he does for a living and he'll say 'I rob from the rich and give to the poor'." Lois laughed self depreciatingly before she met Clark's eyes and her expression softened. "I don't know what I'm going to do Clark."

"You'll think of something Lois," Clark said gently but inside, he was just as much at a loss as she.

Where _did_ they go from here?


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX: CLOSED SPACES

Two weeks after Lois had arrived at the farm to reveal that she had broken up with Oliver; Clark had stuck to the promise that he wouldn't make a move towards her until he figured how he could manage that little hat trick without breaking Oliver's confidence or having to reveal his secret. Oliver hadn't stuck around long after his break up with Lois and following the realization of the man's project to start a super team, the CEO of Queen Industries has announced that he was returning to Star City. Saving the world could be done from Star City just as easily as Metropolis and as Oliver had stated during their last meeting,

_"Metropolis has you Clark." _

Clark didn't know what to make of that but he was starting to understand his destiny if not the shape it would take. Seeing Oliver go was harder than he imagined because for a time, the man had filled the void left by the dissolution of his friendship with Lex and the loss of his father. However, he was becoming more and more accustomed to the idea that solitude was something he would be facing a great deal in his life.

Or not.

Lois had been sent by the Inquisitor to follow up on story about people who were disappearing after last being seen at the Smallville Cemetery. It was pure tabloid fodder but the weird seemed to be the Inquisitor's bread and butter. As anticipated, the police was not taking the matter seriously since a thorough search of the area had uncovered nothing out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, Lois, incapable of taking anyone or thing on their word, decided to investigate on her own.

His first impulse had been to follow her because like no woman alive, Lois had a tendency to attract trouble. He used to think that this was Chloe's forte' but in truth, Lois left Chloe in the dust with just how many people she could tick off enough to want to kill her. Having dealt with Lois himself, Clark could almost sympathize. However the woman also knew how to take care of herself and she would not appreciate learning that he was following her. Knowing Lois, she'd accuse him of stalking and demand to know why and Clark had no explanation that did not involve that damned kiss.

So he remained at the farm after she had stopped by to drop Martha's schedule for the next week before driving away in that little mini of hers to the cemetery, even if the urge to follow her around like a puppy was becoming more and more difficult to fight. Before he used to twist up in knots after an encounter with Lois but these days, their fighting actually made him smile. She made his life interesting if nothing else. Clark had also come to the conclusion that with Lois, there was never any doubt about where he stood. If he put a foot wrong, she'd let him know about it. Such was the beauty of her.

A beauty he was becoming fonder of each passing day.

Clark had been in the barn when he heard the kitchen phone ring and in a blink of an eye Clark had run down the steps, across the walk before picking up the phone amidst the sound of a slamming kitchen door and fluttering curtains behind him.

"Hello..."

"SMALLVILLE!" Lois' frantic voice cried out. "Thank God you're there! I'm in trouble! This psycho used his mojo on me and I think he's buried me alive! Get help!"

"Lois!" Clark's heart started pounding. "Where are you?" He demanded.

"I'm at the Smallville cemetery!" She burst out, clearly terrified. "Hurry Clark, I can't talk long, my battery's almost flat!"

"I'm on my way!" He hadn't even let go of the receiver before he was out the door, the phone bouncing above the floor by its cord. Clark moved so fast that he was little more than a blue streak rushing through the cornfields bending stalks of green and making sign posts spin as he took the shortest route to the cemetery. It was a route he had committed to memory after years of trudging to the place at night in the vain hope of catching Lana there, when she carried out her nocturnal conversations with her dead parents.

Less than two minutes after he had left his phone conversation, Clark arrived at the Smallville Cemetery and saw no signs of Lois. Her car was in the lot but of her there was no trace. Scanning the ground with his x-ray vision, he sought out Lois whose words had indicated she had been interred like the deceased occupants of the cemetery. It took him but a moment to find her and Clark's eyes widened at the sight of Lois struggling in a space no bigger than a coffin, at least ten feet beneath the top soil.

Racing to the spot, Clark saw undisturbed grass above the space where her body was interred. There was no indication of how Lois had been buried alive except that he could see her with his enhanced vision. If she had not managed to call, no one would have guessed either. He wondered if this was how those people she had been tracking had vanished too. Had they simply been buried alive with no one the wiser as to how it could have happened?

"Lois!" He called out. "I'm coming!" He didn't know if she could hear him or not but he could see her kicking, so she reasonably sure she was still conscious.

Preparing to dig her out, Clark was about to tear into the earth when a young man stepped out of nowhere and glared at him. "You want her so bad, join her!" He sneered.

Suddenly, the ground beneath Clark's feet started to give way. It took a second for him to realize that he was sinking and fast. He saw the young man's eyes radiating with green energy and Clark cursed inwardly because with all his efforts concentrated on finding Zones, he had forgotten the homegrown dangers that Smallville was infamous for. Struggling to grab a hold of something to keep himself from sinking, Clark saw the young man grinning, his eyes glowing with malevolence as Clark continued to sink.

The speed of his descent through the earth was such that Clark didn't have a chance to react before he could feel soil scraping against his cheek and he disappeared past the grass. There was a moment of disorientation of moving through dirt before his feet dangled for an instant in empty space. Then his boot touched something solid again and the force driving him into the soil compelled him to bend his knees. Before he knew it, his whole body was flattened horizontally; moving through the soil like his body had turned to smoke. Finally, he was free falling against something soft.

"OW!" The voice was female, loud and irate.

Clark gulped. Lois.

"Lois!" He looked down and saw the crown of her chestnut colored hair as he landed right on top of her. "Are you alright?" He asked stupidly.

"I'm buried alive with an idiot! What DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" She bit back furiously.

_She's fine_, Clark thought.

Rolling his eyes, Clark tried to push up, only to hit his head on something hard. A clump of dirt broke loose and landed on Lois's face. She sputtered the soil off her face.

"Quit moving!" She ordered. "And quit talking, there was barely enough air for me, there's going to be even less now that you're here."

Oh hell, Clark swore soundlessly. He could get them out of here in a minute but that meant using his powers. Thinking quickly he looked up at the ragged ceiling of the small space and used his heat vision to burn a hole through the dirt. The air with the crisp smell of burning soil but the result was a fissure that peeked into the outside world wide enough to give them a fresh air supply.

"What's that smell?" She complained in his chest. "Is something burning?"

"I was cleaning out the fire place when you home when you called," he covered quickly, hoping that was enough.

"Terrific," she growled, shifting uncomfortably because his entire body weight was pressing down on her and there was barely enough room for her in this space, let alone two of them. Worse yet, their positioning was violating all her personal space and Lois was having a great deal of trouble maintaining her composure or her typical bravado like this. "Smallville we need to change positions."

"What?" Clark asked, looking down at her from his ruminations on how they were going to get out of here without him giving himself away.

"I mean get offa me!" She barked. "You're heavy."

"Oh," Clark muttered deciding that this was that special hell he had been dreading.

The space was not wide enough for them to lie side by side so the only thing to do was to change positions. After a few minutes of maneuvering and awkward contact, Lois Lane was lying against his body; her head resting on his chest while Clark was trying very hard to keep his hands to his sides instead of letting them wander. It didn't help that Lois was a tall girl unlike Lana or Chloe who were quite petite in comparison. Lois' frame covered most of him and he could feel her breath against his neck, the soft curves of her body and her breasts pushing into his chest which didn't help his concentration any.

"Relax Smallville," Lois remarked, trying not to rest her head against his shoulder or take notice of the fact that Clark Kent was actually Mr. Hard Body under all that plaid. "The cops will be here soon and they'll find us."

"_Cops_?"

Oh crap, Clark winced in the darkness. He had been so quick to get here, he hadn't called anyone else.

"The _cops_ Clark," Lois said and then stiffened. "Smallville, you _did_ call the cops right?"

"Uh…" Clark stammered, "well…"

"OH MY GOD!" Lois exploded. "You didn't call the cops? You came straight here and didn't call the cops? What the hell did you think you were going to do?"

Aside from feeling really, really stupid, Clark couldn't honestly say. "All I could think of when you called was getting here Lois," he tried to explain himself. "I mean you were screaming for help…what was I supposed to do?"

"If I wanted hysterics, I would called LANA!"

"HEY!" Clark bit back.

"Oh you don't get to be uppity after that boneheaded play Smallville!" Lois ranted. "Jesus H Christ, I called you because I thought you'd use some commonsense!"

"Look stop getting hysterical," Clark said over her complaints, realizing he had his phone in his jeans pocket. "I've got my cell in my right pocket, I'll make the call. Move over a little and I'll get it." His hand reached for his jeans.

"Well at least you're not completely useless," Lois snorted as she tried to move and bumped her head on the ceiling, unearthing more soil onto them.

"Hey watch it," he grumbled squinting to keep any sots of soil from entering his eyes.

"I'll get this damn phone," Lois retorted and started reaching into his pocket.

A moment later, Clark said in a strained voice. "Lois?"

"What?" she asked as her fingers continued to search.

"That's _not_ it."

"Oh," she retracted her hand and added with a smirk. "I guess I can't call you Smallville can I?"

It was a good thing it was dark because Clark didn't think he wanted her to see just how red he went at that remark.

"Will you just get the phone?" He grunted in a strained voice, trying not to be affected by that intoxicating scent of perfume and sweat she was exuding, like some raw animal elixir.

Laughing at his discomfiture even if she could not see it, Lois finally found Clark's cell phone. Fortunately it was fully charged and Lois was able to call 911 and get help although it was going to take some time to reach them. All the while Clark was trying to keep his temper since this entire situation could have been easily resolved in less than a minute if not for the need to conceal his secret.

"See Smallville?" Lois said shutting off the phone, "that's how it's done."

_Yeah, yeah_, Clark bristled as she made that taunt. "Excuse me for not thinking and coming to your rescue, alright? You ring up; all terrified telling me you've been buried alive! Cut me slack will you? I wasn't thinking straight!"

"No you weren't were you?" Lois replied, realizing at that moment that he had been so worried about her he had rushed right over, without even pausing to think of the consequences to himself not just her. Despite the fact that he could have gotten them both killed with some dumb ass Sir Galahad play, Lois was rather touched.

"Thank you Clark," Lois said softly, her voice devoid of its usual taunt.

"Yeah right…" he looked at her skeptically.

"No really," she repeated with earnest. "Thank you."

They stared at each other for a moment and Lois pushed up to kiss him, mostly as a gesture of thanks for the risk he placed himself in order to save her. It wasn't meant to be anything but a show of affection for someone who occupied a very strange place in her heart. No matter how nuts she drove him, Clark was always there when Lois needed him. It was a nice feeling.

Clark almost pulled away when Lois moved to kiss him, thinking as her mouth drew near that she was toying with him and would make him feel even stupider than he already did. However when the soft silk of her mouth touched his, Clark Kent forgot just about everything including his name.

There it was again.

That spark of electricity that seemed to tingle across the skin of her lips when she made contact with his mouth. For a moment, Lois forgot where she was, where she had been and where she was going to be. There was only now. It had meant to be a chaste kiss but the moment her lips touched his, chaste became as buried as they were. Her lips parted almost unconsciously and the next thing she knew, Clark was kissing her back. His hands were around her waist, pulling her closer. Hers were sliding around his neck, creating a vacuum tight seal between their lips.

_Okay so it wasn't a fluke_, Clark's scrambled thoughts managed to note, as his lips grew more demanding and they were rolling around in that little space, moving together in such perfect synchronicity that the earlier awkwardness was barely noticeable. Lois was beneath him and this time she had no complaints about his weight as he continued to plunder her mouth, ravage her lips and taste her like the forbidden fruit she had become since he donned Oliver's mask. Kissing her wasn't like kissing Lana where he felt himself hanging by his nails over the rocks of a high cliff.

Kissing Lois was like coming home.

He could feel her fingers running through his hair, her lips parting wider, giving him the invitation he had been yearning for, for so long. He wondered what she was thinking. He wondered if like him, could she think? Clark was having so much trouble keeping his thoughts straight as he took from her every ounce of honey in her lips.

Their exchange was wordless and somehow Lois knew if they spoke, it would ruin the moment and right now, she didn't want it ruined. This was the _kiss_. The one she just didn't feel with Ollie. She didn't know how it could be Clark. He sure as hell wasn't the Green Arrow (Bandit, thank you very much) but the feeling, the swoon she felt, it was all the same.

Somehow the kiss that felt so real was from Clark and maybe it was always meant to be Clark.

As the implications of that thought solidified in her brain, clump of soil broke free from above and rained dirt all over her.

"What the hell…" she grumbled as the spell was broken with Clark's lips moving away from hers finally. There was no time to talk as a plastic tube pushed its way into their hollow from above.

Using his x-ray vision, Clark saw that there were police cars and fire trucks above head. Emergency service workers were forcing air tubes through the soil so that they could breathe and as they lay there, holding each other, listening to the sounds of rescue above; neither could speak.

Right now, talking was just too hard.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER SEVEN: NICE GUYS

MULTIPLE BODIES UNEARTHED AT SMALLVILLE CEMETERY

By Lois Lane

Following this reporter's encounter with the mysterious assailant responsible for a rash of disappearances in the local cemetery in the rural Kansas town of Smallville, the sheriff's office conducted a more thorough search of the grounds, using sophisticated underground detection equipment. The result was a grisly find of several bodies in hollowed out graves. The victims had gone undetected until now because there was no evidence of how the bodies were interred….

Clark slammed the paper on the kitchen table, almost burning a hole through her name with his heat vision from sheer frustration.

"Lois is still not taking your calls?" Martha Kent asked, judging from the stormy expression on her son's face as she stepped into the kitchen.

"No," he muttered with darkly. "Every time I do manage to get her on the phone, she says she's running out somewhere and can't talk."

Martha poured herself some coffee and looked at Clark. "Honey if you want to see her, then just go see her. It's not like she can hide from you of all people, forever."

His mother had a point but Clark didn't just want to show up at Lois' apartment at the Talon, giving her no choice but to see him. However, the arguments against doing it was becoming more and more trivial the longer he had to wait to see her.

"I don't understand it," Clark said folding the Inquisitor and shoving it away from him so he wouldn't look at the article with Lois' name glaring back at him. "I mean if this was Lana, we'd be talking about our feelings, about being honest with each other. We'd be spending hours with it but Lois on the hand, prefers to believe it _never_ happened."

Martha hid the smile that wanted to come, aware that this was a subject of real concern to her son even if age gave her a little bit of insight in understanding Lois' behavior.

Since the day the two had wandered into each other's orbit, they were opposites in every way. Clark, for all his powers, was almost painfully shy at times, prone to brooding and hiding how he felt, never saying what he meant almost until it was too late. On the other hand, Lois was sassy, fearless, not one to dwell and almost always blurted out what was on her mind, no matter how inappropriate it was. As different as they were, they were also very much alike and that created some interesting sparks between the two, although the suggestion to either prior to this had made both in denial.

How they had arrived at this place was not only surprising but damn near miraculous in Martha's opinion.

"Clark," Martha sighed. "Lois isn't Lana," she reminded gently. "You too have been at each other's throats since you both met. The sudden change in your relationship has got to be a little overwhelming for Lois. Maybe she just needs time to sort out how she feels."

"Time," Clark snorted. "Why is it, it's always me that has to be patient, who has to wait? _She_ kissed me, I didn't kiss her and now she's just run off like it didn't matter."

"I'm sure the kissing was mutual Clark," Martha looked at her son with a raised brow. "And if it didn't matter, she wouldn't be taking such pains to stay away."

Clark rose from his chair and went to the window, staring down the drive that led onto the Kent property, almost wishing that he could see that car of hers driving up. "I didn't think I'd feel this way about anyone else, after Lana. It's like some cruel joke that it's Lois and now that I'm ready to deal with it, she runs off!"

"My," Martha rolled her eyes, "how _flattering_."

Clark turned to give Martha a look. "You know what I mean."

"Honey," she sighed, seeing that his disposition was going to resemble a bear with a thorn in its foot until he had his answers. "If you're that determined to see her, go but just let her take the first move."

"I know, I know," he nodded, already walking towards the door and grabbing his coat from the rack. "You can lead the nag to water but you can't make Lois drink."

Martha winced and stared at her son with the same exasperation as he was feeling towards Miss Lane at this moment, before adding, "don't open with that."

It took Clark less than five minutes to get to the Talon and he knew she was home because he had called just before Martha had come down to breakfast and she was still in her apartment. As he made his way up the stairs leading to her front door, Clark risked a peek with his x-ray vision and saw her skeletal frame moving about the room. Taking a deep breath, he thought on what his mom had said before he left home and told himself to let her do the talking and interject when she had a chance to catch her breath.

Which could be awhile where Lois was concerned.

Knocking on the door, he waited patiently, determined that she would not widen further this space she was putting between them. He heard her footsteps approaching the door, strangely devoid of the edge that shoes seemed to have and was about to look through the door, when it opened and Lois was standing there, clutching a towel wrapped around her wet form.

"Smallville?" She exclaimed, her eyes darting to her state of dress before hiding behind the door and peering at him through the crack. "What are you doing here? I told you I was busy."

"Another hour and half shower?" He looked at her skeptically, trying not to notice how her skin seemed to glisten with that fine sheen of water over it. It seemed almost luminescent. "What do you do in there anyway?" He asked.

"None of your business," Lois said haughtily. "Now if you don't mind," she started to shut the door.

Clark's hand shot out and held it open.

"I do mind," he said meeting her gaze with a determined expression on his face. "Lois, we need to _talk_."

"About what?" She feigned ignorance, giving his hand a dark look before moving to his face.

"About what happened."

Lois let out a deep breath and turned around, entering the apartment, "look, we were in a situation of life and death. I was scared, feeling a little vulnerable and you were there. Let's not make it anything more than it was."

Clark would have almost taken her on her word that the kiss meant so little, if he didn't know better. He remembered how it felt to kiss her, how it felt to hold her and more importantly, how it felt when _she_ kissed him. "I don't believe that Lois." He said following her into the room and shutting the door behind him.

"You can believe what you want Smallville," she turned to him. "This thing between us, it's just physical! A reaction, nothing more! You're hard up after Lana and me because I'm missing Ollie, it's that simple."

Clark bristled disliking it intensely whenever she brought up Lana. "Gee you don't take any prisoners either do you?" He stared at her. "Is it so impossible to believe that you and me…."

"YES!" Lois stared at him with exasperation. "I don't fall for the nice guys Clark! I fall for the guys that are almost always evil or have you not present for almost ALL my dates since I've arrived in Smallville and when it is the nice guys, I almost always screw it up. When that happens, they leave, I cry a little and go through a quart of ice cream with Chloe and move on. No harm no foul. But if I screw it up with you, I don't just lose a boyfriend, I lose a friend, I lose Mrs. Kent, I lose a lot of things I'm not prepared to risk. "

"You won't screw it up Lois," Clark said looking at her with an enigmatic smile as the last few seconds had allowed him to reach an epiphany of sorts.

"How do you know that?" Lois retorted, the question was almost an accusation.

"Because I won't let you," he started to smile.

Throughout his entire relationship with Lana, Clark Kent had never known what to say. Perhaps it had to do with the fact that he had fallen love with the girl before he ever exchanged a word with her, that in his mind, Lana was the epitome of his romantic aspirations. He was in love with her long before he ever knew her and more and more, Clark was starting to realize that perhaps that was why it never seemed to work with them. How much of his love for Lana was that schoolboy crush as opposed to the feelings that developed later? In his mind, he could tell Lana everything. In reality, he could barely tell her the truth.

With Lois, it was a rollercoaster ride alright. There were no illusions about Lois, no dreams or romantic idealism. He knew her flaws, her eccentricities. He knew she could drive him mad like no one else on the planet (including _Zod_) and he also knew she was brave, devoted to her friends and surprisingly compassionate when they needed her to be. Did he love her? Clark didn't know but to his surprise, he realized it would so easy to.

"Clark this is a bad idea," she insisted, wondering if he could have given her a more perfect answer. "I've been a pain in the ass since I met you. I'm nothing like Lana, I'll never shut up or cut you any slack. You can't seriously think this is going to work."

Clark was smiling at her, listening to the woman rant. A rollercoaster, but God what a ride it would be.

"It will work," he closed the distance between them, ignoring the buffer she was trying her very hardest to keep between them. Clark was even starting to understand that she was using Lana's name as a shield, a way to push him back when he got just a little _too_ close.

No more.

A part of him would always care for Lana Lang. First loves were the hardest to forget but _true_ _loves_, that was something else entirely and when he kissed her this time, when Clark Kent's lips touched Lois Lane again, he knew with a certainty he had never felt with Lana, that this _would_ work.

_Goddamn_, Lois managed a scattered thought. The farm boy really knew how to kiss.

Their mouths molded to each other with the same sensual harmony and the plunder that began as he took from her all she was willing to give, was the sweetest that either had ever known. Clark's hand wrapped around her waist and pulled her close but as always, Lois took it one step further. Her fingers were running through his hair, her body was pliant and fluid against his. Their tongues dueled in an intense contest of thrust and parry, with both struggling for dominance. She tasted so sweet and felt so perfect against his body that he wondered if he hadn't been waiting for her all his life.

For Lois, the feeling that this was right washed over her like a warm tide and finally she began to believe to that maybe this time, this time, she wouldn't screw it up after all.

"Well I hate to interrupt this but I'm afraid I've got plans of my own," A decidedly masculine voice violated the moment abruptly.

Clark pulled away from Lois' lips just long enough to see the same man he had seen in the cemetery moments before he had gone plunging into the ground, standing before them inside Lois' apartment. Clark was about to react to the intrusion when suddenly, he was falling through the floor.

"CLARK!" He heard Lois scream before her voice grew distant.

Clark suddenly found himself passing through Lois' floor boards and emerging on the other side, being the ceiling of the Talon. Beneath him, a couple of high school kids gathered around a table broke his fall as he landed on them hard. Screams of shock and pain followed as the table collapsed beneath him and the entire place where he had crashed became a tangle of limbs, broken wood and up ended chairs.

"LOIS!" Clark shouted as he broke free of the mess and ran upstairs, cursing his inability to use his super speed as he disappeared up the staircase and went to her door. It was still locked and wasting no time trying to open it, Clark burst through, shattering the lock and ripping up wood from the door frame.

However, when he stepped inside, there was no sign of the intruder or Lois.

Both were gone.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT: ABC….

"Put this on," he told her.

He dropped the sweatshirt down on the floor next to her. Lois Lane looked up, the side of her face throbbing from where her assailant had knocked her unconscious elbow first. She couldn't see the bruise but she could feel the pulse of burst vessels in the tender flesh of her cheek. Opening her eyes, her vision took a moment to adjust to the dim lighting before she saw his silhouette standing a few feet from her.

When she tried to push herself up from the dust covered floorboards, the small fibers of wood bit into her skin, reminding Lois that this SOB had knocked her out while she was still in her towel and had deign to leave it behind. She was naked in front of him. That thought alone polarized her desire to move and faster than she had any right to expect, her arm shot out and grabbed the garment on the floor.

"What do you want?" She growled through grit teeth, shaking off the disorientation.

He didn't speak at first but instead pulled up a chair and sat down. "Nine bodies before you and not one of them survived long enough to even manage a call to the paramedics. So I guess the 64,000 dollar question is, how did you survive?"

"You got sloppy," she bit back.

"Don't be testy," he warned with enough menace in his voice to send chills down Lois' spine without having anything to do with her state of undress. "I'm asking again, how did you survive?"

"I don't know," Lois snapped slipping the sweatshirt on. It barely covered her. "You left an air hole for us to breathe."

"No I didn't," he said firmly. "I planned on _killing _ you. Now why would I go do something so stupid like leave an air hole?"

_Good question_, Lois found herself asking as she glared at him. Now that her equilibrium had been regained, she was observing everything. It looked like she was in what looked like a basement. Dank, stale air surrounded her and through the dim light of the one light bulb overhead, she could see odd shapes that indicated the usual junk people stored down there. Old furniture, dying electronics and other things that had passed their prime was stashed away for no other reason than it was out of sight.

Like her.

Where was Clark? She asked herself. He had gone straight through the floorboards and the space between the ceiling and the floor was a good 14 feet. He could have been hurt badly. Concern for him flooded her being, overriding even her own fears for herself. It made her angry and she looked up at her attacker, eyes blazing with unconcealed fury.

"So now what, you keep me down here until you get your answer?" Lois demanded, her voice sharp and cutting.

"Not at all," the man retorted. "Just until I figure out if you're lying or not. Then you're going to keep that appointment I made for you in the cemetery. I want to know if you manage the same trick twice."

Searching the Talon and the surrounding area had yielded nothing except to drive Clark into a state of near panic. However, the intruder had escaped with Lois, he had done so quickly and without being seen by anyone. Clark couldn't even begin to imagine the basis of his powers. It was as if he was able to manipulate the mass of an object so that it could pass through another. It was the only explanation that Clark could think of to explain how he had managed to send both of them into the ground like they were in quick sand.

Coming to the conclusion he was going to need help, Clark grabbed Lois' laptop and raced to Metropolis and the Daily Planet. He had to find their meteor freak and prayed that Lois' investigation into the murders at the cemetery would reveal some clue that would lead him to her. As he ran faster than he had ever pushed himself, creating a whirlwind behind him as he streaked across the landscape, creating periodic explosions of sound whenever he breached the threshold of the sound barrier, Clark tried not to worry.

Lois could take care of herself, Clark reminded himself. Unlike Lana, that was the one thing he could be confident of. Hell, there were times she had even came to his rescue. The woman was resourceful, a product of her father's strict military background. All of Lois' rougher qualities could be attributed to the General's influence but it also made her the most capable woman he had ever met. She'll be fine, he told himself. She had to be.

He'd be no good to her if he didn't believe that.

"Okay I think I got it," Chloe Sullivan exclaimed triumphantly after she and Clark had spent the better part of an hour trying to hack into Lois' laptop.

Apparently working at the Inquisitor had made the budding journalist a little paranoid and they had fired up the laptop only to be confronted with a rather formidable password protection program that was not responding to Chloe's usual hacking skill. After trying every permutation from 'Ollie' to 'Lucy' and even 'Smallville', Clark was ready to put his foot through the thing. What was even more infuriating was everyone in the Daily Planet newsroom seemed to be going about their business, oblivious to the fact that a woman was in grave danger.

"I hope so," Clark grumbled, "because I'm not ready to go back to her place and tearing through her stuff trying to find a password."

"It's a long shot," Chloe confessed and started to type.

S-H-E-L-B-Y

ACCESS DENIED

"Damn!" Chloe cursed.

"Wait," Clark said looking at those words as a stray, absurd thought flashed through his mind. However, knowing Lois, absurd was just thing she'd go for just to make a joke at his expense, especially when he didn't know about it. Rolling his eyes because she was just being Lois, Clark frowned and suggested, "try Clarkie."

"Clarkie?" Chloe threw Clark an amused glance as he leaned over her shoulder.

"It's what she used to call Shelby," he grumbled.

"Okay," Chloe tried not to laugh and started to type. "Clarkie, it is."

Suddenly, the password protect screen dropped and Lois' files lay open for their perusal. "Nice call Clark," she sniggered.

"Thanks," he said shrugging it off as he was reminded of just another reason of why he wanted Lois back so badly. Kiss her or strangle her, the jury was still out on which was first. "So is there anything on this story of hers?"

Chloe was already shifting through the directory called Story Research and immediately called up all the information she had gathered on the disappearances on the numerous victims.

"Wow she really did her homework on this thing," Chloe remarked seeing all the faces and news clippings Lois had meticulously collated. In fact, as Chloe perused Lois' work, she had to admit Lois was really coming into her own as a journalist. If she ever gave up the Inquisitor, there was a good chance she could make it as a legitimate newswoman. "Names, dates of disappearances, next of kin and even the police missing persons reports."

"Seems like the police were starting to think that this was the work of some kind of serial killer," Clark pointed out, noticing the sheriff's office making comment on one front page.

"Not according to Lois," Chloe replied, opening a word pad page and seeing a number of bulleted points. "She actually thought it might be a little more specific than that. She keeps referring to something called the ABC murders."

"What?" Clark stared at her puzzled. "What does _that_ mean?"

"Hang on," Chloe said switching directories and finding the file that Lois had marked as ABC. "Clark, it's the synopsis of an Agatha Christie book."

Clark brows went up in surprise, unaware that Lois was into that sort of literature however, when Chloe opened up the file, he began scanning the content as super speed.

"It's about a series of murders that appeared to be random at first," he started explaining. "They look like a part of a serial killing, with all the victims names following the alphabet, one after the other but the detective in this thing, figures out that victim no.3 wasn't random at all. In fact, it looks like the whole reason for the murders was so that the third victim's kid could collect a huge inheritance or something like that."

"And making it look like a random killing would take the suspicion off that's its murder for profit," Chloe concluded, looking up at Clark with a dark expression. "Damn that's cold Clark."

"But it makes sense," Clark agreed, somewhat impressed that Lois had figured this out. Maybe she was better at this investigative journalism than either he or Chloe had given her credit. "You kill a couple of people, you make sure that there's a stink about it and even if there are no bodies, there's enough noise to look like there's some psycho out there is picking people so no one looks too closely at the families."

"Right," Chloe returned to the files of lodged missing persons' reports and started opening up each of the scanned pages. "Now you saw a guy right? Any clues as to what he looked like?"

"Let me think," Clark returned to the memory of the fleeting glimpse he had caught of the meteor freak in the cemetery. "He was about our age," he began, "about 5'8, Caucasian, wearing a sweatshirt with a hood above his head and I couldn't see his eyes because they were glowing green…"

"Okay, two of the victims were reported missing by their son Wallace Echols," she read out. "Andrew and Irina. They were the third couple to go missing."

"Anything on where this Wallace lives, or what he might look like?" Clark asked automatically, praying they were on the right track.

"I'll have to do some digging," Chloe replied, switching screens again and begun doing the search on Wallace Echols, whoever he was.

She was going to die.

The realization dawn on her and for a while at least, Lois tried to remain calm. She tried to tell herself that Clark would be tearing the town apart trying to find her. He always seemed to arrive in the nick of time in situations like these to save her. Who knew that the farm boy had such impeccable timing? _Stop that_, Lois told herself, _stop talking about him like he's an ignorant hick, you know bette_r.

Lois _did _ know better.

Long time ago when they had first met, he had said something to her that stuck in her mind, that it bothered her when she couldn't quite peg someone within the first five minutes of meeting them. This was especially true of Clark who was never quite what she expected. Naïve farm boy on one hand and on the other, this self assured guy who was never phased by anything and always eager to help. Clark didn't want to save the world; he just wanted to help the parts of it that needed him most.

And right now she _needed _him.

She needed to hear him tell her with that certainty in his voice that he wouldn't let her screw up what they could have together. There was something about Clark's faith that was so safe, that it could be wrapped around you like a warm blanket to make you believe nothing in this world would stand in the way of that promise. When Lois kissed Clark, his lips conveyed all that to her and more than anything, she wanted to tell him that. She wanted to tell him that she wasn't afraid of letting him in, wasn't afraid to trust him because Clark had been the only man she had met who didn't let her down and always came through when she needed him.

Blinking away her tears, she looked up at the solid wall of concrete barely an inch from her head. Her legs were pulled up almost to her chest and she could feel the strain in her muscles. It was pitch black inside this prison and when she moved, her shoulder hit the rough surface of bare cement. Her head ached from the lingering effects of the chloroform the bastard had used to knock her out again. He probably suspected how much she would struggle to keep from being forced into this Gordian knot she was now in. Thus when she woke up, Lois woke with the knowledge that this time there was no escape.

There wasn't even enough room for her to kick or struggle to escape, vain as the effort might be. All she could do was lie there inside this hollow and count how many minutes would pass before her air ran out.

In a soft voice, far from the hearing of anyone, Lois Lane whispered trying not to cry. "Find me, Smallville. Please find me."


	9. Chapter 9

CHAPTER NINE: RESCUE

There wasn't a picture of Wallace Echols anywhere online that Chloe could show Clark to give him some idea that they were on the right trail but seeing as to how it was the only lead he had, he took what he could get. While a description of the elusive Wallace had not been possible, she was able to get the address of the family home. The Echols weren't farmers like most of Smallville's residents but they occupied a nice piece of property outside town.

It took Clark less than 20 minutes to make the journey from Metropolis to Smallville and all the while there was this sense of foreboding that no matter how fast he was running, time was running out. Such feelings were rare but Clark had learnt enough to trust his gut instincts when something wasn't right and as hoped that on this occasion, he was wrong. He had no idea where Lois was and knowing he was on the clock was not going to make him rest any easier.

The Echols place was deserted when he reached the gates and noted that the place had the look of desertion. It made sense of course, the Echols had been missing for weeks before Lois had trailed their disappearances to the cemetery and had her near death experience. Clark shook thoughts about near death experiences out of his head because that would only precipitate more thoughts about Lois well being and he was having enough trouble fighting the panic that wanted to overwhelm him at the thought of her abduction.

Snapping the huge padlock that kept trespassers off the property, Clark slipped into the grounds and immediately switched to his enhanced vision to locate any signs of life. Fortunately, there were no buried bodies or grisly finds reminiscent of the murdered victims in the cemetery. There was however, one person in the house. Seeing through the walls, he saw the young man he assumed was Wallace Echols and no matter how hard Clark stared, he could not be certain if Wallace was indeed Lois' assailant.

Clark cursed, debating whether or not to waste his time talking to the guy if he couldn't be sure especially when there was no signs of Lois anywhere on the property. If Wallace had indeed kidnapped Lois, he'd want to keep her close by. After one attempt on her life, it was safe to assume the police would take a second rather seriously. Pros and cons aside, Clark still didn't have an answer and the mounting fears for Lois' life felt like a gun being pressed against his skull.

Frustrated at his lack of progress and fighting his rising panic that he would not reach her in time, Clark was about to leave when he sighted something that made him stop in his tracks.

A damp towel.

It was went she started feeling light headed that Lois knew she was running out of air.

Something inside her snapped at that moment and despite everything she told herself about not panicking, about keeping her calm and not wasting oxygen, all that was forgotten upon reaching the spirit crushing realization that no one was coming for her.

Lois started screaming and when she couldn't scream anymore, she sobbed.

The plan had worked out well as far as Wallace Echols was concerned. Even though he had hoped for a few more months before the bodies were discovered, things couldn't have worked out better if he had planned it. Despite his initial belief that Lois Lane's interference might upset his carefully planned stratagem, it seems the attempt on her life had actually solidified the police's suspicion that the murders were being carried out by some psychotic killer.

Whatever.

All Wallace knew was the insurance company had called today, informing him that a nice fat cheque was coming his way and already, he was talking to his dad's lawyers about finalizing the sale of the garage. In six months, Wallace planned on taking himself away from Kansas to some place where girls in bikinis would serve him Pina Coladas on pristine white beaches for the rest of his life.

Suitable payback for a father who had claimed he would amount to nothing.

Until a year ago, Wallace Echols had been your typical Smallville outsider. He didn't associate, had little tolerance for others and took almost perverse pleasure in showing just how indifferent he could be to the parents who spoiled him. Imagine his surprise when they finally decided to put their foot down in a last ditch effort to help him build some form of character and told him he had to fend for himself? Wallace had been unimpressed and would not have fared very well if not one for singular event that changed his life.

Smallville had a meteor shower.

His car had been almost totaled when the meteorite struck the road he had been driving on. He should have died but instead of being splattered across the inside of the cabin like an egg, he had somehow been flung out of the vehicle to safety. Wallace was even more astonished by this since there had not been an open door or broken windscreen to manage this miracle. In the days to come, he discovered that he had joined the prestigious ranks of one of those freaks former Smallville High alumni Chloe Sullivan had been so fond of writing.

He had developed the ability to move through solid matter or cause matter to pass through each other or even displace it if necessary.

Wallace put this talent to use, stealing small amounts at first, a robbery here, a trinket there but eventually he wanted the big score. The murder of his parents, with all the wealth they had accumulated over the years, wealth which would be his someday anyway, seemed like the best way to acquire it. Remembering the plot to an old detective novel he once read, he came across the plan that would reach that end.

He centered his entire plan around the annual pilgrimage his parents would make to the Smallville Cemetery to visit his grandfather's grave. As the date approached, he began selecting random victims whom like his parents, came to the graveyard to visit their loved ones. Furthermore, Wallace liked the idea of hiding the bodies in plain sight. Swelling in pride at his ingenuity, it was very easy to sent the first person to their death, then the second and the third. It almost matched the ecstacy he felt sending his parents into the dirt and leaving them just enough air in their hollowed out grave to prolong their agony.

Lazing back in his father's arm chair, Wallace reached for the bottle of coke on the table when suddenly, he noticed the liquid inside beginning to shimmer as if the ground was trembling. Knotting his brow in confusion, the young man had time enough to form the word earthquake when suddenly the front door exploded into a thousand wooden fragments as debris rained across him and the leather seat he was sitting on. He had enough time to shield his eyes before he was on his knees, scrambling for cover.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Clark demanded as he grabbed Wallace by the scruff of the neck and hurled him across the room. Wallace's face broke his fall and he slid to the base of the wall, seeing stars.

Disorientated and temporarily unable to concentrate, Wallace looked up at his attacker and recognize him immediately. "You were at the cemetery," he muttered and then realized, "_that's_ how she got out…"

Clark wasted no time, aware that once he regained his equilibrium, Wallace would be escaping as before. Moving at super speed, Clark was next to Wallace in a minute and lifting him up by the foot. A fist enclosed the young man's ankle and crushed bones easily. Wallace let out a scream of agony before Clark let him go and saw him fall against the floor with a thud.

"You may be able to move through walls but you're not going to be doing it on your feet." Clark warned. "Now one more time, where…is…she?" He said with enough finality and just enough flame in his eyes to indicate that having broken bones was the least of Wallace's problems.

"I don't know who you mean!" Wallace spat and tried to concentrate, gritting his teeth in agony. His eyes flashed green.

Clark sunk into the ground up to his knees and couldn't move for all but five seconds, before his eyes blazed and flames shot up around Wallace who could do nothing but sink into the ground to avoid the fire.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Clark demanded again, refusing to listen to any other response.

"She's dead!" Wallace hurled back.

Clark who was in the process of tearing himself out of the floor, ripping up floorboard and mortar stopped short at that. No. He refused to accept it. He wouldn't accept it. Not Lois, not yet.

Not before he had a chance to tell her what she meant to him….

"You're lying!" Clark grabbed the man's other foot and crushed with similar ruthlessness, eliciting another cry of excruciating pain. "Now tell me where she is before I break every bone in your body and put you someplace that will make jail look like a theme park!"

It was a bluff of course but right now Clark wasn't being rational and twenty 20 questions with this guy was time Clark didn't have. Besides, Clark really did have some place to put him where he wouldn't be a threat to anyone.

"She's at my father's garage in town!" Wallace gave in at last, unable to take any more damage or pain. "You're too late! She's probably run out of air…."

Before he could finish the sentence, Clark was already out of the door.

Her nails were broken and fists were aching but it didn't stop Lois Lane from trying to escape despite the futility of it all. It wasn't in her make up to simply give up while her life was being stolen from her without so much as one scream of indignation. However, the breaking in the dam had cost her and through her sobs, she was finding it harder to breathe. Crying herself into exhaustion, Lois finally gave up and accepted that she was going to die.

A lifetime of regret surfaced quickly.

There was so much she had wanted to do, so much she thought she had plenty of time to take care of. Damn, she was just starting to figure a few things out too.

Al her life, she had been somewhat rudderless. Her dad dragging her across the world from one place to another offered little in the way guidance. Lois didn't blame the general, such were the cards that were dealt her. However, this writing thing was becoming more and more important to her and Lois had even been toying with the idea of going back to college, finishing that degree – picking a major this time. Maybe trying for a job at the Planet, when she was done, to be real reporter, not some tabloid hack.

Her thoughts were always such a mess her head and when she tried to speak them, they almost always came out in barrage, like artillery fire. Writing them down however, made her stop, made her think about what she was saying and Lois realized that her writing gave all those scrambled thoughts expression. Lois had so much more to say and now it looked like the chance would never come.

Like her chance with Clark.

Closing her eyes at the sound of his name inside her head, Lois began to sob again because the despair she felt at realizing that her luck with men hadn't changed at all, had no description. Like she had said to Mrs. Kent after that whole business with Graeme the assassin, she'd most likely be looking the other way when her Jonathan arrived. Well she wasn't looking the other way but as luck would have it, she was going to get herself killed only minutes after finding him. She wasn't angry that he wasn't here and inside, she knew that he would continue to search even if he was too late. She hoped he didn't blame himself, Lois couldn't bear that.

He had enough of that crap with Lana already. Lois would hate to be the reason why he continued to be miserable.

Feeling it harder and harder to breathe, Lois dried her eyes as best as the confined space would let her and waited for the end.

She had no more fight left.

The garage that Wallace spoke of was in fact a fully fledged auto service business that the young man had promptly shut down after his parents' body had been discovered murdered at the Smallville cemetery. With their demise, he saw no reason to keep it open and thus men and women who worked at the place, relying on its income had been pinked slipped the very next day. Thus

Clark arrived at garage less than a minute after leaving Wallace Echols with two broken ankle, a show of force he did not think was unjustified, considering the number of people he had sent to his grave. As anticipated, the place was empty with steel security gates pulled over the shop front and garage doors. Wasting no time, he swept his x-ray vision through the length and breadth of the establishment, searching…

What he found was a body under the floor.

Eyes widening in horror as he saw the struggles of the person trapped there grow sluggish, Clark zoomed through the door, nearly tearing it off its hinges as he raced unto the main garage floor, now devoid of cars and mechanics. He came to a stop on the concrete floor that covered the entire room in one large thick slab. The bastard had buried her under the floor using his powers. Had anyone else but Clark found her, it would have taken nothing less than a jackhammer to rescue Lois.

Using his enhanced hearing, he could hear two things, he could hear her shallow breath and he could hear her sobbing. The sound of both made his heart clench in panic and as he dropped to his knees, pulling back his fist for the punch that would crack open her prison like an egg. As he pulled his arm back, Clark paused a second and considered what it was he was about to do.

There would be no explaining how he had managed to rescue her.

Lois was not dumb enough to believe his lies and in truth, Clark didn't want to lie to her. His attempt to keep the truth from Lana had driven her to Lex and Clark didn't want to make the same mistake twice. Lois wasn't Lana and for once in his life, he was going to have to make a choice for truth and live with the consequences. Without further hesitation, Clark Kent threw his punch against the concrete.

The shudder that ran through her ears was loud enough to snap Lois out of her despair and her approaching unconscious state. Staring up in shock, she was met with a face full of concrete dust and an infusion of fresh air that made her gasp greedily for it as she took hungry breaths. A crack of light appeared from overhead and as she tried to process what was happening, she heard another jolt, like the sound of clapping thunder as the sky opened up for her.

Clark!

It was Clark that was looking down at her. It was Clark who had just ripped through solid concrete with his bare hands. Lois questioned whether this was real or was she hallucinating when she saw him pull apart the cement slab like he was unwrapping his last Christmas present. She saw him do this and suddenly, clarity she had never known before flooded her senses. A thousand images flashed through her mind in that second, all those near misses where she and Chloe had almost met their ends surfaced, having where they had been saved by Clark always managing to get there, just in time.

Clark was always there, keeping them safe because he could.

He really could.

"LOIS!" Clark saw her lying there, feeling fresh fury at the man who had left her like this to die. He could see the bloody edges of her fingers, where the nails had been cracked and broken. They looked as bad as the purple bruises on her wrist and suddenly, Clark didn't feel all that sorry about breaking Wallace's bones She hadn't moved but considering her cramped position, her muscles would be sore and aching. However, Lois was conscious, conscious and staring at him. Ignoring what that look could mean for now, Clark reached in and pulled her out.

Lois felt his hands on her skin and let out a sob of relief. Arms wrapping around his neck, she rested her head on his shoulder as he hoisted her out of that tightly space hell she had been put into by a monster. Her legs ached, her back was stiff and a dozen different pains became acute as he lifted her into the world again. Lois needed a moment to take it in, to deal with the fact that she wasn't going to die. Burying her face in his chest, she let out a little sob, allowing her vulnerability to show because he had earned the seeing of it.

"Lois," Clark asked shakily, still overwhelmed by what he had done. He was terrified and relieved at the same time. She hadn't said anything and he supposed her current condition made it a little unfair for him to expect a response that but he had to ask. He had lived with this for too long.

"Lois, talk to me, are you alright?" His voice filled with fear and concern that she might not be.

"Yes," she nodded emotionally, tears creating crow's feet against the concrete dust on her face. Lois wanted nothing than to stay where she was, in his arms, safe. "I'm okay…" she expanded. "Just get me out of here please," she begged. "I want to go home."

Clark nodded, more than happy to oblige that request. The noise he had made rescuing her might attract attention and he had to deal with Wallace as well. He had revealed his secret to two people today and he had to deal with that. One was easily taken care of, thanks to Jor-El while the other, the other, he looked down at Lois, he wasn't so sure.


	10. EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE: IS THAT IT??

She asked to be brought home so Clark did just that.

Lois Lane opened her eyes some time later and found herself in Clark's room again. She smiled when she realized that this was exactly what she asked for; home. In the two years that she had become a regular fixture on the Kent Farm, Lois had come to see this as home. As much as she loved this place, she had loved Jonathan and Martha Kent. They were everything she wanted when she was growing up, everything that had denied her and she had felt singularly privileged to be allowed into their home. Knowing them had enriched her life in ways she could not even begin to express, perhaps she never would.

Until now however, she had thought it was mere luck that brought her into the sphere of such extraordinary people but after today, Lois understood better than she ever dreamed. It wasn't just luck. It was fate.

Resting on the pillow she thought about Clark, thought about what she had seen him do. Why wasn't it a surprise for her to see all the things he could do? She had seen him tear into bare concrete like it was paper and on the way home, he had carried her in his arms and sped through the streets so fast that Lois thought she was sitting on the nose of 747. She had lapsed into consciousness with the wind against her face like she was flying. So why didn't it surprise her?

Because this was _Smallville_ .

And with all the people she had seen, since coming to this seemingly normal Kansas town, that displayed powers they used to hurt, main and murder, why wasn't it so impossible to believe that there would be one who didn't? Who instead of hurting others, used his abilities to help, time and time again. Nature had a way of balancing things out and Lois had come to understand that this was Clark's place in the world.

To help.

She blinked her tears away when she realized how beautifully simple that place was and how much more she loved him because of it.

He stood outside the door to his bedroom and was terrified to enter it.

When Pete had found out about Clark, the secret had driven him to leave Smallville. In contrast, Chloe had become an even better friend because now he had to hide nothing from her. As he stood outside the door, summing up the courage to face Lois, Clark wondered which way she would fall. He had to believe that his heart wasn't wrong about Lois that she cared about him as much as he cared for her. Martha asked him once if the reason he didn't tell Lana the truth was because he did not really believe she was the one.

Did he feel _that_ strongly about Lois?

He supposed that there was really only one way to find out as he knocked lightly on the door and waited.

"Come in."

Swallowing thickly, he entered the room and saw that Lois was sitting up, her expression looking unfathomable and for a moment, his nerve almost failed him. He was certain that he loved her but he had wanted them to be together as a couple for a bit before he sprung this on her. _Pete had freaked out and left_, his inner voice told him. _Yeah but Chloe hasn't_, the response came back just as quickly. Staring at her, waiting for her to speak, Clark didn't realize he was holding his breath and then supposed where he was concerned, it would matter that much anyway.

Clark was afraid. The guy who could rip through cement was afraid, of her. The enormity of what he had revealed to her began to sink into Lois at that moment, as she realized just how difficult it must have been for him to always be forced to hide the truth from those he cared about. Was this why he had gone wrong with Lana, because they never faced each other as Clark was facing her now?

Forget Lana, Lois told herself and broke the awkward silence between them.

"So Smallville," Lois said exhaling deeply as she spoke. "That's the big secret? Really Clark, I kind of thought it would be bigger than that, you know like you were Republican or maybe a secret Brittany Spears fan. I mean as secrets go, you gotta admit this one is kind of _lame_ isn't it?" She concluded that blather with her trademark flippancy and accompanying smirk.

It was something they were both used to.

"Well there's a bit more to it than that," he said quietly, encouraged by that smile. "Lois, I want to tell you everything but its…"

"It's not your powers I fell for Smallville," Lois cut him off and continue speaking. She had to get it out while it was in a form that didn't sound like prattle. What she felt would never be conveyed as plainly or as sincerely as she felt now. "This being able to bend steel and move like lightning, which I might add means you never get to be late for our dates EVER," she smiled, "is an interesting wrinkle but not the end of the world. As flaws go, I can think of a hundred things worse that you could be and are not."

Walking over to the edge of the bed, he sat down, wanting so much to believe her. "Are you sure Lois? I mean there's other stuff, big stuff about me."

Earlier this day, Clark had told her that he wouldn't let her screw this relationship up and the certainty in his eyes had told her that this could work. Now he needed to hear the same thing from her and Lois was rather surprised that it wasn't all that hard to say. Lois had decided she loved him when she thought she was going to die in that concrete hell. Now she had a chance to prove it and like everything else she attempted, she would do it fearlessly with eyes wide open.

"Nothing is ever that black and white Smallville," Lois said softly, reaching for his hand. "Do I know if I can handle this? I'm not sure is the most honest answer I can give you but I'm willing to try. Right now, I'm more interested in us than I am in your powers. Let's see where this goes first before we think too far ahead."

Clark smiled, squeezing her hand back because those were terms he could live with. If he had a choice, he wouldn't have told her straight away either. Clark had wanted to explore their relationship, to see if this thing between them felt as right as he knew it to be. Lois' response brought to mind all those times when he had put such questions to her, indirectly, particularly when she was dating Ollie. Each time she had lobbed back an almost perfect answer that told him on every level, she was very different from Lana.

"I don't want to screw this up," he said meeting her eyes.

"Hey," she smiled. "Whose says I'm going to let you?"

"You seem pretty sure of yourself," Clark said leaning forward, wanting very badly to kiss her. To kiss her like he had when she first turned his world complete on its head.

"Smallville," she moved to meet his lips. "It's _me_ ," as if that explained everything.

With that Clark Kent kissed Lois Lane again and as her lips parted for him, inviting him to take from her whatever he wished, Clark knew he hadn't been wrong. This would work not because Lois was different from Lana.

It would work because it was always _supposed_ to.

END


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